Free Republic

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell broke with former President Trump on Tuesday, saying that he does not believe individuals who pleaded guilty to crimes related to last year’s violent Capitol Hill protest should have their sentences shortened. "One hundred and sixty-five people have pleaded guilty to criminal behavior," the Kentucky Republican said when asked about Trump’s recent suggestion that he would issue pardons for the Capitol Hill rioters if he were re-elected as president. "None of the trials have been finished yet, but 165 have pleaded guilty to criminal behavior. My view is, I would not be in favor of...

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) tweeted on Saturday that he voted to convict former President Donald Trump in the Senate impeachment trial “because he is guilty.” “Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty,” Cassidy tweeted. Cassidy is one of seven Republicans who was convinced by the House managers' arguments and voted to convict Trump in a 57-43 vote. Cassidy was joined by fellow Republican colleagues Sens. Mitt Romney (Utah), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Ben Sasse (Neb.), Patrick Toomey (Pa.) and Richard Burr (N.C.). Cassidy’s decision was a...

The President has provoked the disgusting events at the Capitol today. He has gone from creating chaos to inciting insurrection. Mr. President, accept your defeat, go home to Florida and let our elected officials do their jobs and rebuild confidence in our democracy.— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) January 7, 2021

Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said Wednesday during PBS’s impeachment coverage that President Donald Trump had “radicalized” his supporters the same way the late terrorist leader Osama bin Laden had. Anchor Judy Woodruff said, “Another argument the Republicans are making is that yes, the people who stormed the Capitol, they should be held accountable, but President Trump himself wasn’t part of the mob. They keep citing one of the words he used in his speech to the crowd last Wednesday. They said he used the word peaceful. He wanted them to be peaceful, among many other words he spoke. They’re saying...

Twice failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Tuesday offered advice on how Republicans and the conservative media, specifically, can “begin the healing and unifying process,” demanding that they state that Joe Biden “was duly elected president in a free and fair election.” “Here’s how elected Republicans and conservative media can begin the healing and unifying process: Accurately state that Joe Biden was duly elected president in a free and fair election,” Clinton said in a Tuesday tweet to her 30 million Twitter followers. “Urge Trump supporters to refrain from further violence. For a start,” she added:

Rep. Liz Cheney, the House's No. 3 Republican, said Tuesday she would vote to impeach President Donald Trump. The House's vote is expected Wednesday, a week after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, temporarily disrupting the counting of electoral votes. "The president of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack," the Wyoming congresswoman charged in a statement.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said that he no longer considers himself a Republican in the wake of the riot that broke out at the Capitol building last week. Asked by CNN's Fareed Zakaria whether he believes "fellow Republicans" who have not criticized President Trump "encouraged, at least, this wildness to grow and grow," Powell responded that "They did, and that's why I can no longer call myself a Republican." "I'm not a fellow of anything right now. I'm just a citizen who has voted Republican, voted Democrat throughout my entire career, and right now I'm just watching my...

One thing that could be said for Standard Oil's John D. Rockefeller. Although he was a monopolist, he never openly gloated nor mocked the competitors that he suppressed or destroyed. The same cannot be said of the twenty-first century blatant monopolist, Jack Dorsey of Twitter. Not content to act in tandem with other social media monopolists in order to attempt to destroy his competitor, Parler, he rubbed salt in the wound he helped create by gloating about it with a mocking tweet. Because Twitter permanently banned President Trump along with its general crackdown on free speech, many Twitter users have...

In a remarkable speech from the Senate floor, Senate Majority Leader Mitch castigated his fellow Republicans who challenged Arizona's election results, arguing they were subverting the Constitution by attempting to overturn the election results. "I've served 36 years in the Senate. This will be the most important vote I've ever cast," McConnell said. "The voters, the courts and the states have all spoken. They've all spoken. If we overrule them, it will damage our republic forever." -snip McConnell, who had urged his members not to challenge to the results, addressed senators as they gaveled in to debate the objection. He...

Former US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has suggested that President Trump should face exile in response to some of his supporters storming the Capitol building yesterday. Trump sought to de-escalate the situation by telling protesters to go home during the chaos, but Twitter subsequently deleted his tweets and locked him out of his account. While many are now pushing for Trump to be removed as President under the 25th amendment, Mattis suggested he should be stripped of his citizenship entirely.

Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has been criticized for tweeting a photo of a tenderloin while attempts to provide further COVID-19 economic stimulus have stalled in the Senate.

....“I want to make this clear to the Fox News table: That was a joke,” said the tuxedo-clad president from a rostrum at a head table adorned with tulips and hydrangeas. “That was not my real birth video. That was a children’s cartoon. Call Disney if you don’t believe me. They have the original long-form version.” The president, ever inscrutable, is officially in reelection mode, having spent the past week on matters serious (touring the tornado-ravaged South) and silly (asserting his place of birth). The question, politically, was what version of himself would Obama choose to display at this weird,...